Monday, March 31, 2014

PIER 1 OPENING IN PIKE CENTER (PHOTO)

The new Rockville location of Pier 1 will be in the Pike Center, at Rockville Pike (MD 355) and Bou Avenue. Pier 1 was forced to close its old location at 1590 Rockville Pike, after being displaced by a pending "town center"-sized mixed use project. That project is also forcing Fuddruckers and other businesses out of their existing locations.

Currently, the store is filled with boxes and crates. But a banner out front says, "Open Soon." The lights were on inside Saturday afternoon.

Friday, March 28, 2014

ROCKVILLE TACO BELL WAFFLE TACO REVIEW (VIDEO)

Taco Bell Breakfast is here, and here is my first review from the menu! The Waffle Taco is available in Egg and Cheese, Sausage or Bacon versions. I chose to start with the sausage version, which has a sausage patty, scrambled eggs, and cheese wrapped in a warm waffle. A packet of maple syrup comes with it, for dipping purposes.

How has the Taco Bell breakfast experiment turned out? Watch my detailed review and find out! I also give an update on the Taco Bell Breakfast Phone.

NIGHTSWATCH: ROCKVILLE CRIME UPDATE

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across the Rockville area on March 25, according to crime data:

Theft. 11800 block Parklawn Drive.

Theft. 11700 block Parklawn Drive.

Theft. 12100 block Rockville Pike (near Bou Avenue).

Theft. 12100 block Rockville Pike (near Bou Avenue).

Drug arrest. 12500 block Twinbrook Parkway.

Theft. 1400 block Rockville Pike (just south of Woodmont Country Club).

Drug arrest. 2900 block Tower Oaks Boulevard.


Thursday, March 27, 2014

ROCKVILLE PLANNING COMMISSIONER QUESTIONS LACK OF DETAIL ON BIKEWAY MASTER PLAN

Can you tell what impact
bike facilities will have
on College Parkway
from this map?
Would you buy a car sight unseen, if the salesman said he could only tell you it was a 4-door sedan? Rockville residents are being asked to comment on the draft update of the Rockville Bikeway Master Plan at a public hearing on April 9. But critical information is missing from the draft, according to Rockville Planning Commissioner Jack Leiderman.

While the document illustrates many common on-road bike facilities, and lists a recommendation for specific roads within Rockville, Leiderman noted that residents have no way to know how the proposals will affect parking, the width of existing travel lanes and other relevant details.

Andrew Gunning, the city's assistant planning director (and staff liaison to the planning commission) said planners hadn't gone into that level of detail at this stage. "I'm requesting it," Leiderman responded. "How am I going to comment" on the plan without knowing the details, he asked.

This situation is virtually identical to that of the recent Montgomery County Transit Corridor Master Plan process. With relatively few details worked out on the specific design and traffic impact of the county's proposed bus rapid transit system, the plan was rammed through by the council, with promises that the details would be known later. But if some of the potential impacts were untenable, why would a citizen allow the BRT Master Plan to pass?

The same applies to the bike plan. Should the plan be approved, it will become the document that can be referenced to justify a wide range of changes to city roads. Once adopted as a master plan, those changes - like BRT - will become "a fait accompli," as Leiderman put it Wednesday night.

"I'm not just going to rubber stamp a list of streets," Leiderman said.

Also at Wednesday night's meeting, Planning Commission Chair Don Hadley discussed his upcoming  appearance before the Mayor and Council at their April 7 meeting. Hadley invited his fellow commissioners to attend, but said he has not yet been informed of the format of the discussion. Commissioner John Tyner somewhat jokingly suggested Hadley review the comments of Councilmember Tom Moore on the topic prior to the evening. Moore was critical of the commission's pace last week.

Leiderman advised Hadley to emphasize the importance of taking time to get the plan right: "Measure twice, saw once," he said.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

FORMER COUNCILMEMBER: ROCKVILLE VOTER PARTICIPATION ISN'T AS LOW AS YOU THINK

Less than 17% of Rockville voters bothered to vote in last November's city elections. That has been accepted as fact for the past two Rockville elections.

Not so fast, warned former Rockville councilman Jim Marrinan at Monday's Mayor and Council meeting.

"Flat out, the actual percentage of Rockville residents voting in the last election was higher than the reported" number, Marrinan said during the Community Forum portion of the meeting. The problem, Marrinan said, is that too many ineligible voters remain on the Rockville voting rolls. 

Marrinan gave a personal example - his own adult daughters are still on the eligible voter list in Rockville, despite not being residents. Brigitta Mullican, a former candidate for mayor and council, previously commented on Rockville Patch that she encountered a number of inaccuracies in the current voter rolls, while campaigning door to door in the city. 

The discrepancies may be making Rockville voters sound more like slouches than they actually are, when it comes to exercising their right to vote. Marrinan still believes the actual number could use a boost. He suggested adding early voting for city elections. Marrinan's proposal to lower the cost of such voting, would be to have it on the Saturday prior to election day, from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM.

In the meantime, Rockville, don't feel so bad about your voting record.  The "number of ineligible voters on our eligible voter list is quite high,” Marrinan said.

Responding to Marrinan's advice to clean up the voter list and add early voting, Mayor Bridget Newton said, "I actually agree with you on both points." Newton added that her non-resident son remains on the eligible voter list, as well.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

SOME ON ROCKVILLE COUNCIL IMPATIENT WITH ROCKVILLE PIKE PLAN PROGRESS

Is the Rockville Planning Commission taking too long to produce the final draft of a new Rockville Pike Plan for approval by the Mayor and Council? The answer varies among city elected officials. Councilmember Beryl Feinberg brought up the issue at the March 17 Mayor and Council meeting, under the Future Agendas item.

Feinberg requested that an update on the commission's Pike Plan progress be scheduled for a future meeting, saying that - in her view - "it's been stalled." Mayor Bridget Newton said her perception is directly the opposite. "I don't think it's stalled at all," Newton responded, adding that the "Planning Commission has been working hard on that."

"They have had this plan for years," Councilmember Tom Moore countered. Moore said recent decisions by the commission to further study some elements of the plan "alarmed some of us."

Several councilmembers reached a consensus that summoning Planning Commission Chair Don Hadley to provide an update at a future meeting would be satisfactory. Feinberg said she is seeking a "timeline for completion," and the ability of the council to "have our input to what's going on."

"What's going on," of course, is really more a projection of underlying tension between factions, with very different visions for future development in the city of Rockville. It's also an interesting study in the specific power, and influence, the office of mayor holds in the city. While the outcome of November's election appeared to favor the more pro-development Team Rockville faction, the ability of a mayor to strongly influence the makeup of commissions can allow him or her to still have a significant impact on major decisions.

Choices made by former mayor Phyllis Marcuccio have had just such an impact on the Pike Plan, and the process. When the plan process was, indeed, started "years" ago, there was a much more favorable majority for a high-density plan on the Planning Commission. There was a sense that the process was, if anything, moving too swiftly for some at that time. But with the exception of Jerry Callistein, Marcuccio's approved nominees have taken a decidedly more skeptical view of whether or not Rockville should rush to be just like White Flint.

Not only have the originally-proposed building heights come into question, but aspects of the plan glossed over by the well-paid consultants - and in the initial discussions - have come under more scrutiny. Hadley took a deliberate, thoughtful approach as a commissioner, and his elevation to chair has permitted the commission to operate in a similar fashion. New commissioners Jack Leiderman, Charles Littlefield and Anne Goodman have brought a fresh approach. Leiderman in particular has convinced many colleagues, and even city staff, to question points in the draft plan that had previously just been accepted as fact or fate. And many more of the concerns raised by the majority of citizens, who opposed the draft as written, have been taken into account.

As a result, the plan that will be sent to the council will be notably different than the one many had expected to be approved by 2012. While at this point still far more urban than today's Pike, many fairly radical proposals have been scaled back.

A plan that will have major impacts on the city, and particularly upon the neighborhoods that border the Pike Plan area, deserves a thorough process. With White Flint's radical changes still unproven to be financially sustainable or wise planning, there's no urgent need to rush completion of this document.

Monday, March 24, 2014

TACO BELL BREAKFAST PHONE UNBOXING (VIDEO)

Taco Bell sent me a special package: a Taco Bell Breakfast Phone! As you've probably heard, Taco Bell is launching breakfast nationwide this Thursday, March 27. Let's open the package, and see what the Breakfast Phone is all about.

Apparently, Taco Bell will be sending text messages and voicemails with "secret missions" to carry out, related to the Taco Bell Breakfast theme. What other surprises does the phone have in store between now and Thursday?

Stay tuned, because you know as much as I do.